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The Heavy Gauss Rifle is a new, deadly innovation by Lyran Alliance scientists introduced in 3061[2]. Applying their "bigger is better" philosophy to Gauss technology, the Heavy Gauss Rifle is one of the heaviest battlefield weapons in existence, and has a correspondingly high damage potential. Indeed, the recoil from the weapon is so great that the rifle cannot be mounted in a vehicle's turret or 'Mech's arms, as firing the rifle would essentially rip it off. A 'Mech firing the rifle may even be knocked down by the recoil. At close range, the rifle can inflict damage exceeding that of even an Autocannon/20, and so it has earned the handle of "Thor's Hammer" among LAAF troops.

While the Heavy Gauss Rifle is extremely powerful, it also suffers from a number of drawbacks. The heavy projectile fired by the rifle experiences a significant loss of velocity, so it is weaker at greater distances. At medium range, the damage output is slightly reduced. Once at long range, the velocity loss becomes far more dramatic, with this reduced damage being halved. The same projectile weight that causes such a slowdown also makes it necessary to allocate extra space to ammunition. This, combined with the bulk of the rifle itself, can lead to problems. The massive capacitors necessary for the coils that power the rifle are also not particularly inert, and will undergo a catastrophic explosion if exposed to weapons fire.[3] (This can be contained with CASE, however.)[4]

In an attempt to rectify the Heavy Gauss Rifle's shortcomings, work began shortly after its introduction on the (still experimental) Improved Heavy Gauss Rifle.

↑Total Warfare, p. 136 "If a heavy Gauss rifle is split between the center torso and side torso, CASE located in the side torso that contains the heavy Gauss rifle stops any transfer of damage to the center torso; if the Gauss rifle is struck in the center torso, however, a 25-point ammunition explosion applies to the center torso."